Forms and Problems of Validation in Social Anthropology

Abstract

A problem basic to all the sciences is confirmation of theory, or showing that theoretical ideas have some empirical relevance. For social anthropology as a science this is equally a problem. As a means of simplifying the problem, as well as emphasizing certain characteristics of modern social anthropology, a special case of confirmation is considered. This is validation, or showing the empirical correctness of theoretical ideas. To explore how research reports in social anthropology have not the criteria for validation, research studies reported in the major journals for a ten-year period, 1951-1960, are examined. Three types of validation are identified and discussed. These are illustration, or case analysis: comparison, or type analysis; and testing, or statistical analysis. Each of these types is examined in terms of the research that illustrates it; in some cases varieties of the type result, and each type is evaluated in terms of its problems and limitations as a method of validating theoretical ide...